‘Heated Rivalry’: Meet Hudson Williams & Connor Storrie, the Stars of Crave’s Gay Hockey Romance
What To Know
- Heated Rivalry, a new Crave series based on Rachel Reid’s book, stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams as rival hockey players who fall in love.
- The gay hockey romance series will be the breakout roles for both actors.
- The show is set to premiere in Canada on November 28.
There’s less than a month to go until Heated Rivalry hits screens. Canadian screens more specifically, but we’re still holding out hope that the TV show, which is based on Rachel Reid’s book of the same name, gets a wider release in the very near future.
Whether your countdown to Heated Rivalry is a few weeks or an as-of-yet-undetermined amount of time, you can start your deep dive into the show’s stars right now. Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams are playing Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, aka two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey. A fling during their rookie season turns into a secret, years-long romance. All the while, the rest of the world thinks of them as rivals.
With Heated Rivalry providing their first major leading roles, you might be curious about Storrie and Williams’ backgrounds. There isn’t much obvious information out there about the actors yet, so we’ve done the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. Keep reading for everything we know about the soon-to-be breakout stars.
Who are the actors playing Shane and Ilya in Heated Rivalry?
You already know by now that Storrie is playing Ilya and Williams is playing Shane, but let’s break down their characters a little bit more based on what we know from the book.
Ilya is a Russian hockey star who enters the NHL draft the same year that Shane does, though they first meet during the World Junior Championships when they’re 17. Once he joins Boston Raiders, the effortlessly cool Ilya becomes known for his playboy lifestyle, though he has plenty of hidden depths. He has a traumatic past, which we won’t spoil here.
Though they’re involved in the same sport, Shane couldn’t be more different from Ilya. Shy and anxiety-ridden, the Canadian is all business when it comes to hockey, which is the most important thing in his life. (Until Ilya comes along, that is.) He becomes the captain of the Montreal Meteors.
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“It’s really crazy,” Williams said in an interview with the fanpage @heatedrivalrycentral. “Me and Connor, I remember seeing all the posts and the fan bases and we just kept looking at everything and seeing the amount of likes and views from all over the world it was getting. That was…you can’t even wrap your head around it. I think we just want to do an amazing job.”
What have Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie been in before?
The Crave series might be their first lead roles, but the actors are no stranger to the screen. Storrie is best known for Joker: Folie à Deux, in which he appears as the inmate who kills Joaquin Phoenix‘s Arthur Fleck. “I just couldn’t believe I was there and what I was doing,” he told TMZ. “It was so under wraps. I didn’t know anything else about the movie except that part in it. They were very serious. I didn’t say anything to anyone for two years.”
Other than that, Storrie has about a dozen credits under his belt, including an episode of Tiny Beautiful Things and the LGBTQ+ coming-of-age film Riley. His latest project, sci-fi thriller April X, recently came out. “Missing Romania and the family I found there a little too much,” he wrote on Instagram. In an interview with @heatedrivalryupdates about the movie, he explained that it was the first project where he felt like an adult.
In Williams’ case, he had a role in an episode of CBC’s Allegiance and CBS’ Tracker, as well as Hallmark’s All I Need for Christmas. During his interview with @heatedrivalrycentral, the actor revealed that he’s joined the cast of The Altruists, an upcoming Netflix drama starring Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle. Williams has also acted in and directed a number of short films.
How old are Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie?
Thanks to @heatedrivalryupdates, we know for sure that Storrie is 25 years old. Williams’ age isn’t known yet, but we do know — courtesy of @heatedrivalrycentral — that he attended a year-long film program at Langara College in 2020. That likely puts him in his early-to-mid twenties.
Where are Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie from?
Don’t let Ilya’s Russian accent fool you: Storrie hails from West Texas, per a Heated Rivalry promo video. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
Williams, on the flip side, is actually Canadian like his character. He revealed in that fan interview that he grew up Kamloops, British Columbia, and he lives in Vancouver now.
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Do Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie play hockey?
We don’t know how familiar Storrie or Hudson are with hockey yet. In that same fan interview, Williams mentioned that he took basketball seriously in high school, but there was no mention of hockey.
Heated Rivalry, Season 1, November 28, Crave
